A guitar is classified either as an acoustic variety or an electric variety. The invention disclosed below pertains primarily to the electric variety guitar. Electric guitars are formed with a substantially solid body block to which the neck is affixed, generally by an adhesive as well as screw fasteners. Electric guitars utilize one or more microphones, also known as pickups, that are mounted in the vicinity of the strings to capture the sound vibrations that are generated by strumming or plucking the strings. The pickups generate an electrical signal that is transmitted to an amplifier and the amplified signal is transmitted to a series of speakers.
In presently known electric guitars, the pickups are embedded in the solid wood body of the guitar. Solid wood tends to be a partial sound sink, i.e. the guitar body absorbs sound rather than reflecting or transmitting the sound, resulting in a somewhat muffled effect. While this subdued sound characteristic can be partially overcome with electronic manipulation and amplification, the invention disclosed herein is based on a discovery that by mounting the pickups to a metallic plate, natural resonance and tone clarity are enhanced and an improved and distinctive sound quality is achieved.